Fernandez has decent control for a knuckleballer, but never has been able to establish a regular spot in a major league rotation. Now off the Astros' 40-man roster, Fernandez could find work in middle relief if a major league team has a slew of pitching injuries.

2003

Fernandez represents why Bob Boone is the wrong manager for the Reds. The Reds have a limited budget and need to be resourceful in finding their pitching, starting or otherwise. Boone is willing to try anything once, which is fine. The problem is that he rarely gives an experiment time enough to decide whether it would work. Fernandez took the loss in three of his eight starts in 2002. After each loss, he was pulled from the rotation. Boone routinely altered his starting rotation on the basis of a handful of starts with other pitchers as well. This sort of practice makes it difficult to develop young starting pitching. Any pitcher that is unproven under Boone will have a hard time cementing his role. Fernandez not only is unproven, but also starts off with one strike against him for being a knuckleball pitcher.